We are starting to get a complete picture for the college football postseason. After a weekend of conference championship games, we have a greater sense of who is in the playoff and who is likely out. We also have a sense of the potential for complete chaos caused by the ACC.
Thank You and Goodbye
On Friday night, Tulane won the American Conference championship by beating North Texas. It did so, knowing that whenever the season ends, head coach Jon Sumrall is leaving to go take over at Florida.
Also on Friday night, James Madison won the Sun Belt Conference championship by beating Troy. And when the season is over for the Dukes, head coach Bob Chesney is leaving for the other side of the country to take over at UCLA.
At the time of publishing, Tulane is a virtual lock to get into the playoff. They will be the highest-rated Group of Five conference champion. James Madison was greatly assisted by the Duke win in the ACC title game and the trickle-down tumult that caused (more on that later). But JMU could be the second G5 school to make it, a scenario no one imagined when the season started four months ago.
Both coaches have an agreement with their future schools that they can stay and coach through the postseason with their current school. Just as long as they have already started packing their bags and their house, for what is next.
In Case You Hadn’t Noticed
There are a lot of storylines to go with Texas Tech. Benefactor Cody Campbell has spent tons of money on the football program, while also preaching that the system is broken and he and others should not be allowed to spend that kind of money on college athletics. By the way, in case you did not know, John Hamm’s character in the TV show Landman is patterned after Campbell. And it’s not a spoiler, but in season two, plenty of the characters are wearing Texas Tech gear.
Joey McGuire is a compelling figure as a head coach. And Behren Morton is a good enough quarterback to get the team far into the playoff. But the defense…well, the defense is really something else. Yes, they all wear 1970s-style mustaches and look like Magnum P.I. wannabes. But don’t let that distract you from the talent. Jacob Rodriguez has already won the Butkus Award as the best linebacker in the country. Monday night, he will be in Charlotte, NC, as one of the four finalists for the Nagurski Trophy as the best defensive player in the country.
With the conference championship on the line, this defense limited BYU to just 200 yards of total offense on Saturday. Yes, Cougars quarterback Bear Bachmeier is just a freshman, but he is a good thrower and runner. Yet against the Red Raiders’ defense, he was only 16 of 27 passing for 115 yards, no touchdowns, and two interceptions. He had minus-two net yards rushing.
Going into Saturday, Texas Tech had the sixth-ranked team for total defense. And four of the five teams in front of them are also likely headed for the playoff. That is going to make them very competitive in the postseason. Time to let the fans throw tortillas again.
What Took You So Long?
The coaching chaos has nearly come to a complete stop. There are a few schools left with openings, but most of the big-name schools found their coach in the last week. Penn State finally landed on Iowa State coach Matt Campbell. But was it just us, or were there like eight other names floated for the job before they landed on Campbell?
It was like watching someone play Monopoly, and they keep rolling the dice, determined they were going to buy Park Place or Boardwalk. They failed to get good commodities like Pennsylvania Avenue or even Marvin Gardens. They kept rolling the dice anyway. And while they were trying to get out of the low-rent Baltic Avenue neighborhood, other schools were buying up high-end lots like Pacific Avenue and North Carolina Avenue. They were getting the good-named brands.
Finally, Penn State came to a reality and settled in on getting the coaching equivalent of Ventnor Avenue. Campbell is a good coach. And he can win with the resources afforded him at Penn State. But his name was a hot one three to four years ago. It remains to be seen if he can even become as valuable as the cast-off James Franklin. But give Penn State credit. They didn’t get snookered into the Electric Company on the board. Utilities are a dubious investment these days.
Here’s Looking at You, Cookie
Penn State did make a run at BYU coach Kalani Sitake. But a BYU booster stepped up to get Sitake more money and to boost the financial packages for the assistant coaches. That benefactor was Jason McGowan, the CEO of Crumbl Cookies.
The BYU fans were so happy to keep Sitake, that the social media posts went epic troll on Penn State sites, showing their celebrations over the news, complete with Crumbl cookies. In fact, the joy was spread to Blacksburg, Virginia. On signing day on Wednesday, the Virginia Tech social media site showed former Penn State coach James Franklin celebrating signing day with boxes of Crumbl cookies.
Ok, We Have to Talk ACC
So we have answers on coaching movement. We have a more complete picture of the playoff race, maybe up to the top seven or eight teams. But then the ACC had its championship game, and all hell broke loose as a result.
Duke beat Virginia in overtime. The Blue Devils are the conference champions and/but have an overall record of 8-5. There are two potential paths this could go. Sunday afternoon, the playoff committee could decide it must have the champion of all four P4 conferences in the tournament. That would mean taking the five-loss Blue Devils and jumping them over a bunch of two-loss and three-loss teams.
Or the committee could say there is no chance an 8-5 team is getting in. That would also likely mean leaving out Miami. The Hurricanes are 10-2 overall and 6-2 in ACC play. They are also ranked right on the edge of the 12-team playoff. But how do you put in Miami when you didn’t even put the conference champion in? This will eventually go back to how the ACC had to go to step five in the tiebreak system to break up the four teams tied for second place. It’s how Duke leapfrogged over schools with better records.
James Madison eagerly awaits the decision from the committee on the ACC morass, so that the Dukes can complete their 2025 picture.
Main Image: Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
